Beccles Quakers have met off and on since the mid-1600s. We usually meet in the Friends Meeting House, which is in the centre of the town. Permission to build it was given in 1744 by the Bishop of Norwich, ‘for the dissenting people called Quakers’. Quakers had been meeting in Beccles for some 70 years before this but in rented rooms. As well as the new meeting house, a Quaker burial ground was developed, the first recorded burial being in 1746. The single storey meeting house was extended in 1909 with the addition of another storey. A new large hall was also built next door, on part of the burial ground, to hold the Adult School. This is called Quaker Hall and is used by a number of community groups. You can find more information about our meeting house here.
Our meetings are held on Sundays between 10.30 – 11.30, and Fridays between 12.30 – 13.00.
Each meeting is followed by a cup of tea/coffee and biscuits, and a time to chat. On 2nd and 4th Fridays after meeting we have a led discussion until 14.00pm.
If would like to hire a room in Beccles Friends Meeting House, do get in touch.
History of the Meeting House
The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) was founded in a climate of political and religious rebellion that existed in England at around the time of the Civil War.
In 1647 the founder, George Fox, dissatisfied with contemporary religious practices and beliefs, began to preach the notion that everyone could have a personal experience of God, or the ‘inner light’. He travelled extensively and gained followers in the North of England and, with the assistance of others who were ‘convinced’ by his teachings, Quakerism spread throughout this country and abroad.
Under the reign of Charles II, Quakers, along with other non conformists, were thought to be radicals and heretics. They were prepared to face imprisonment for their refusal to pay tithes to the established church and in 1660 the first mention of Quakers in Beccles is a record of six Friends who were committed to Blythburgh Gaol at Beccles Quarter sessions.
By the 1740 it was no longer illegal to hold Quaker meetings and these often took place in private houses. In 1743 seven Friends began a subscription list to raise money to build a Meeting House. Philip Sewell was a major donor, buying two cottages on Smallgate with grounds that would accommodate the building and also provide space for a burial ground. From 1689 Quakers, who were not allowed to be buried in churchyards, had used a burial ground at Worlingham, but by the1740s this was nearly full. In 1753 Philip Sewell gave the Meeting House to the Quaker trustees. There is a plaque with his name on in the Meeting House dated 1759 which is said to be from his coffin. By 1794 the numbers of Quaker families in Beccles was diminishing and in 1817 the Beccles meeting was dissolved. The building and the cottages (now one dwelling) however stayed in Quaker ownership and were rented out.
The next chapter in the history of the buildings comes in the 1890s when local Quakers in Beccles established an Adult School at the Meeting House to teach men and women who could not read and write. The school was so successful that it was expanded in 1909. The roof of the building was jacked up and an extra floor added and a large hall was built adjacent to the Meeting House. The Adult School continued until after the Second World War.
John Ashford, from a local farming family, although not a member of the Society spent some time at the Quaker college, Woodbrooke. There he met Kathleen Robson who was from a Surrey Quaker family. After they married and settled in Aldeby they re established a Quaker meeting, in their home to begin with and in 1934 at the Meeting House in Beccles. So after a gap of 116 years Philip Sewell’s building was once again providing a meeting place for Quakers.
The Meeting House, Quaker Hall and the Quaker Cottage remain in the ownership of Quakers. From 1954 until early 2012 the cottage provided family accommodation for Resident Friends who cared for the buildings and grounds and supported the development of the meeting. The cottage which is Grade II listed is now let to a private tenant.
The Meeting House is kept plain because Quakers believe that the relationship between the worshippers and God does not require any special trappings.